New Nintendo Switch VR headset design leaked via patent

It looks like Nintendo may be planning a sturdier replacement for the Labo VR headset, if a newly discovered patent is anything to go by.

Despite being considerably less powerful than the other consoles, the Switch does have its own VR headset – it’s just that it’s made of cardboard and part of the Labo VR kit.

It does work surprisingly well though, in a manner similar to Google Cardboard and other smartphone VR set-ups, and top games such as Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker all have VR modes.

Nintendo Labo is probably not something anyone without kids would think of buying though, so perhaps it’s not surprising that Nintendo has designed a more robust alternative.

Like any patent, such as yesterday’s leak of redesigned Joy-Cons, there’s no guarantee that it will be turned into a new product, but it at least shows that Nintendo are thinking about making a plastic one.

As you can see though, it seems to look and work almost identically to the Labo version, with the Switch slotting in at the front and no headstrap (the latter is a trick to make sure the device can get a lower age rating than it otherwise would).

Nintendo applied for the patent in February 2018 but it was only published last month, having been spotted by LetsGoDigital – the same site that found the patent for what’s to believed to be the PlayStation 5 devkit.

Whether the patent does get turned into a real product is anyone’s guess but LetsGoDigital have created a 3D mock-up of what it might look like. Although without a headstrap it’s hard to imagine it ever being sold as anything more than a novelty.